Dark Hero
by Keolla
Summary: AU. He was a motorcycle racer, wild and untamed. She was a painter, quiet and reserved. 'Love' didn't exist for either of them. But little did they know, they needed each other more than they could imagine. InuKag
1. Delinquent Child

Author's Notes: Please read. **Important.** This story is **based** upon the drama series **Mars**, yet I am only borrowing elements and some have been dropped because I do not believe I can write those topics to the best of my abilities. A major aspect which has been dropped is concerning **rape**, which I know I will not feel comfortable writing. Some character personalities will be drastically different from the persona they are supposed to represent in the series (a.k.a. Miroku).

Please remember that, it is _based _upon Mars, but it is _not _Mars. I don't intend to follow all the scenes/lines/or plot of Mars.

I also warn you. Some topics tackled will be extremely mature, and relationships will _not _be of the usual.

P.S. Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha aren't brothers in this tale.

Disclaimer: The characters of both Inuyasha and Mars do not belong to me, and I renounce any right over the original plot of Mars. However, any elements and characters you do not recognize are my creation.

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Dark Hero

Chapter One

Delinquent Child

* * *

She concentrated on her sketch, the pencil tracing over curves and shades on the paper. She gazed up at her subject, watching the kids running around the playground and giggling after one another. She felt numb to their cheerfulness before directing her attention back to the drawing, the pencil perfecting every angle as she unconsciously bit her lower lip in focus.

"Hello?" someone interrupted her, and she blinked once more as she gazed up and saw someone all too familiar. His white hair cascaded like silk over his shoulders as he towered over her, looking down placidly with those golden eyes of his. His left eyebrow was arched up slightly and he was sporting the usual red motorcyclist jacket she always saw him wearing. From that angle with the light shining through from behind him, she wasn't sure whether he looked like a god or a devil.

She immediately brought her head back down again however and continued sketching, hoping he would go away.

On the other hand, the person didn't seem to notice her reluctance and continued talking. "There is a hospital around here called Un…" he trailed off, his eyebrows coming together in contemplation as he struggled to remember something. "What was the name again…" he mumbled to himself, narrowing his eyes in thought.

She quickly flipped her sketchbook to a different page, ignoring his mumblings, and drew something swiftly.

He scratched his head and looked around him, as if the world could provide an answer. "Um…I think it was called…" he continued, but still couldn't quite remember.

He didn't have to wait however, as she quickly ripped off the sketch paper and held it up at him. He frowned before taking the paper from her hands, reading the words she had written on it. "Unmei Hospital. Oh, that was what it was called…"

He grunted to himself, and was about to just continue on his way, although she was faster. Brushing past him, she was walking away rapidly without once throwing a glance back. He arched his eyebrow in surprise, gazing at her almost timid posture and wondering why she was in a hurry. He had hardly seen her face either because she had looked away from him the whole time.

He shrugged, a nonchalant look on his face, before continuing towards his destination, his hands shoved carelessly in his jean pockets.

She on the other hand, gave one glance back at the man who had just asked her for directions. Seeing that he was on his way, she gradually slowed down her pace, her eyes lingering on him for a moment. She couldn't believe he had just actually talked to her. For some reason, it had slightly frightened her.

"Kagome?"

The girl jumped slightly at the sound of her name so unexpectedly, and whipped her head around to lock hereyes onto the person who had called it. Seeing her mother gazing at her, her eyes softened a bit and she breathed out a small sign of relief, which her mother noticed.

"Kagome, honey, are you okay?" her mother asked, distress written clearly on the wrinkles around her face.

Kagome nodded as her eyes subconsciously trailed over the scar which made its way down the right side of her mother's face, completely destroying the sweet maternal image. The scar had always looked bizarre on Kagome's mother who was gentle and always loving.

"What happened, dear?" her mother continued questioning, walking up to her daughter and looking with concern into her daughter's unique blue eyes.

"I saw someone I don't like at the park," Kagome whispered as she watched the way the warm sunlight reflected off her mother's short hair, making it shine. She could see the way her mother's brown eyes were filled with worry, and she quickly redirected her gaze to the ground, not wanting to see those familiar eyes.

"Who was it?"

"He's just someone who goes to my school."

"What did he do?" her mother continued interrogating, a hint of hardening in her voice.

Kagome hesitated to answer, knowing that it would sound a little ridiculous to be afraid of. "He asked for directions…" she mumbled in a low, reluctant voice, feeling her mother put her hand softly on her shoulders. She couldn't help but want to shudder at the contact.

Her mother let go of her, surprise clearly written on her face. "Directions…" she echoed, before smiling slightly and looking relieved. "Just directions. You had me a little worried there."

Kagome bit her lips slightly, not sure what to say after her mother had made it so clear that she was acting a little foolish. Silent for a while, she decided to answer with a simple, "I just don't like him very much."

---

"Honestly, you're in the hospital and you are still smuggling in food you're not supposed to be eating," he commented lightly, his form slouched over on one of the hospital chairs as his sharp gaze followed his friend on the other side of the bed, who was rummaging through some food from other countries with one hand.

His friend lifted an elegant eyebrow before taking out a jar of some brownish substance. "Vegemite," his friend explained as he put it back in the bag. "From Australia…You know, one of the Aussie's favorite things, or stereotypically called so. Personally, I think the thing tastes terrible. But you might not."

The boy slouched in the chair simply grunted as a reply.

The friend raised his eyebrow once more, gazing apathetically at the boy. "Inuyasha, you're a useless kid. Make yourself useful and get me the wine from the suitcase."

"Get it your---" A guilty expression suddenly appeared on Inuyasha's face as his gaze slanted down towards his friend's left arm, seeing that the appendage was missing and the hospital gown's sleeve was hanging loosely off his shoulders.

His friend was about to make his way to the suitcase, indignant at such disrespect from the kid, before Inuyasha got up rapidly and blurted out, "Yo Sesshoumaru, I'll get it."

Sesshoumaru merely went back to his bed and sat down on it, watching the otherboy go over to the suitcase on the counter and take out two large bottles of wine. He shook his head slightly, as if almost lamenting at the image he saw before him.

Inuyasha turned around and brought the two bottles over, handing one over to his friend. His eyes lingered on Sesshoumaru's left arm, and he finally asked in a rushed manner, as if he had been trying to suppress it for a while, "How do you feel about it?"

Sesshoumaru looked down uninterestedly at his arm, before attempting to open the bottle in one hand by placing it in his lap. "Doesn't matter, us demons can take pain better than humans and hanyou."

Inuyasha's ears twitched in his friend's direction as a frown appeared on his face. "I can take pain as well as you can. Don't act like you're so old. I'm 21 and you're 27, what's the big diff?" Inuyasha growled, placing the other bottle on the counter next to the bed and almost sulking.

Sesshoumaru seemed to ignore Inuyasha's childishness, knowing that Inuyasha still had a long way to go before he completely matured. Instead, he answered the question he had previously been asked with a casual tone of voice. "When I made that turn, it felt like my whole body skidded. I don't remember much, I don't remember the crash," he said evenly, his expressions never once pained or aggrieved, although he did seem unwilling to admit he had made a mistake.

"But, I meant your arm."

Sesshoumaru shrugged as he looked around for cups for the wine. "They'll get me a new one soon enough," he announced in an offhand manner, as if it didn't bother him. His eyes strayed to the door and he announced, "Here comes the glasses."

Inuyasha turned his head to the door as a beautiful woman walked in, holding a bouquet of flowers in one hand and two glasses in her other. Her crimson eyes only betrayed a small amount of astonishment when she saw Inuyasha, before she simply strolled over to the other man and placed a small kiss on his cheek, handing him the glasses.

"Hello Sesshoumaru, Hello Inuyasha," she greeted with a smile, as she drifted over to place the flowers in the empty vase next to the bed.

"Hey Kagura," Inuyasha replied before watching Sesshoumaru hold a glass out for him to take, and then proceed to pour wine.

Kagura looked over her shoulders at the two boys, raised an eyebrow, and questioned, "Are you allowed to have that in the hospital?"

Sesshoumaru's expressions seemed to lighten when he talked to his mate and wife. "What are you talking about? This is water."

Kagura narrowed her eyes, before shrugging innocently. "Okay, do whatever you want."

Inuyasha laughed slightly at the two, knowing that only Kagura could crack the indifference that always seemed to be set in Sesshoumaru.

"Glad someone's happy today," Kagura commented idly, as she continued to play around with the flowers. "He's been nagging me all day yesterday to give you the directions to the hospital, it's almost impossible to bear. He's like an old man sometimes."

"I did not nag you at all," Sesshoumaru defended himself, drinking his wine with a satisfied look on his face.

Kagura rolled her eyes behind his back, and Inuyasha smiled slightly. Those two really did get along. The wind demon smiled again as she went to sit next to her husband, placing her hand lightly over his one hand. She looked up at the hanyou. "Was it hard to find the hospital?"

Inuyasha frowned at the mere thought and looked huffily at Sesshoumaru, as if everything was his fault. "Yes it was. What's the idea of staying in a hospital so hard to locate? I was lucky however because some person drew a map for me." As if acting on impulse, he pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and smoothed it out, gazing at the directions the girl had drawn for him.

Kagura blinked as she noticed something behind the paper, before getting up and taking the paper from the boy's hand. "Oh, that's a lovely picture. But it's just like you to crumple it up and ruin it." She gave it back to him and Inuyasha turned the directions over, gazing at a picture on the back.

It was a sketch of a mother holding a baby boy close to her, and it reflected warmth and tenderness. He stared at it, feeling something grow inside of him which even he was unable to explain. Frowning slightly at the emotion, he forced it into a deep recess of his mind.

Stuffing the paper back into his pocket, he raised his glass at Sesshoumaru. "Another one," he demanded, but Sesshoumaru simple ignored him and gazed at the clock in the room.

"Shouldn't you be going? School starts in an hour. Don't be late for the first day of school." Sesshoumaru motioned for Kagura to pour him another glass, and when she did, he simply sipped from it and gazed out the window.

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow, wondering what Sesshoumaru was thinking inside his head. He stood there for a few more moments, before he realized Sesshoumaru was serious about him leaving. He shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, if you're so eager to get rid of me, I suppose I shouldn't grace you with my wonderful presence any longer."

Inuyasha turned around, with his hands behind his head. Looking like he didn't care about the world, he casually made his way to the door.

However, Sesshoumaru stopped him with a single word. "Inuyasha."

The said hanyou turned around with a questioning look on his face, before it shifted to one of surprise as Sesshoumaru threw something at him with his one hand. Inuyasha caught it easily and instantly felt cold metal touch his flesh. He uncurled his fingers to see a key in his palm He stared at it for a while with an unreadable expression.

"Take it," Sesshoumaru offered, resuming his wine sipping as he gazed at the bland expression on the hanyou's face.

Inuyasha glanced over at Sesshoumaru, his eyes settling upon the missing limb once more. "So you really won't be able to ride a motorcycle anymore?" he asked quietly, a tense strain in his voice.

Silence pursued as Sesshoumaru seemed to reflect on the thought, before replying with a shrug. "I'm giving the keys to you, aren't I? You know where it's parked." He stopped gazing at the younger male and instead put his glass down and held his wife's hand tightly, signaling that it was time for Inuyasha to leave.

Inuyasha watched his friend intently for a few more moments, before he turned around and made his way out the door. "Bye," he said simply, and was gone.

---

He walked down the road to the school in a casual manner, although one hand was throwing his paper bag in every direction possible and the other was pointing at students one would only assume he knew. A boyish grin was on his face as he told a random student, "Students from the neighboring university are coming to bet on basketball next Friday. Be there at the basketball courts at 3!"

"Miroku, honestly, it's the first day of school. That's two weeks later," the student replied, but Miroku simply shrugged and continued on his way towards Ashikawa University, sending a spontaneous wink over to a group of freshmen girls who all giggled slightly before continuing on their way. He sighed---yes, today would indeed prove to be a rather productive day.

However, the smile wavered on his face when he saw a girl walking slowly in front of him. He watched discreetly as she avoided contact with a student who had been passing out flyers, possibly in an attempt to snag some unsuspecting freshman for some sort of club on campus.

He quickly gave her a once-over. So, she was still as conservative as ever, as he saw her wearing a sweater with a scarf and a skirt that went past her knees. She hadn't changed one bit.

He would normally have simply went up to her, slung a casual arm over her shoulders, and greeted her as an old friend---if she had been any other girl. But Higurashi Kagome was untouchable. There was an aura around her that immediately set off whatever male survival instincts in him that told him she would not take his friendly gesture pleasantly. In fact however, he had known her for a long time, ever since high school to be exact, but she had always been untouched by him.

It would be rather strange to admit that in some sort of way, Kagome had this _thing_ about her that sometimes interested him. Of course, he would never openly admit it. After all, Miroku plainly thought that his attraction to Kagome was beyond what one would consider innocent, yet he knew it wasn't a materialistic appeal. It was much more than that, in a much more unexplored region which Miroku never liked to delve into. Thus was the reason Kagome was untouchable.

He began to hum artlessly as he looked away from the quiet girl to gaze around at the scenery of the school to the long and wide stretch of road that took students many minutes to cross from one end to the other. He was beginning to think of what new methods were possible in approaching a girl before he heard a rumbling sound in the distance, which held much resemblance to a roaring engine.

Miroku turned his gaze to look back at the other half of the campus road he had taken at least five minutes to walk across, and saw something in the distance. He raised an eyebrow as he saw the object rapidly closing the expanse towards him, as many students jumped from the middle of the road for the intrusion to pass.

Squinting his eyes, Miroku soon realized it was a motorcycle. Catching sight of an all too familiar red jacket, Miroku began waving his arms around---bag and all---and yelled out as the bike got closer, "What took you so long, Inu---"

He never got to finish his sentence however as Inuyasha sped past at a tremendous speed on a powerful silver motorcycle, grabbing Miroku's bag on the way and racing onwards without a hello.

"My breakfast!" Miroku shouted after the hanyou, a horrified look on his face as he realized the evil culprit had managed to snatch his food. Seeing that Inuyasha wasn't about to stop, he shook a fist, and began running after him, yelling along the way.

---

Inuyasha rode his bike to the parking area, parked it, and took off his helmet, allowing his long white hair to flow like water from the confinement. He took in a deep breath and brought Miroku's breakfast bag to his nose, giving it a sniff. Bagels and cream cheese. As always.

Taking out one of the bagels already spread with cream cheese, the hanyou took one bite from the snack before he began to secure his helmet to the motorcycle. However, it wasn't long before the silence was broken by a heavy breathing coming from the general area in which Inuyasha had just sped by just a minute ago.

Turning his head, Inuyasha saw a rather skinny, bony man running in his direction, his second finger already in the air in preparation for the lecture Inuyasha was in no doubt of hearing. Putting on a smirk, Inuyasha watched as the demon teacher with bulging eyeballs stopped in front of him, one hand at his hip as he drew in heaving breaths. "So early and you're already exercising, Toutousai-sensei?" Inuyasha questioned innocently, watching the man narrow his eyes and shake his finger with passion.

"You…speed…" the teacher wheezed out before stopping, closing his eyes, and taking in a deep breath. "Do you _know _what speed you were going at, young man?" he finally managed to force out, a strict authoritarian look on his face.

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. "Hmm…40?" he guessed haphazardly.

"Try presuming at 100!" Toutousai grounded out.

"100?" Inuyasha echoed, looking thoughtful. "I still felt like it was 40," he finally came to as a conclusion.

Toutousai made a disapproving sound as he shook his head at the shocking behavior of this delinquent child. "I'm warning you, Inuyasha, let me catch you again and you're in trouble."

Inuyasha shone out in a light of all things possible of innocence and truthfulness. "You can always turn a blind eye, sensei," Inuyasha suggested, before patting the teacher on the shoulders and left, leaving behind Toutousai who continued to shake his head in disappointment.

Inuyasha whistled nonchalantly as he made his way to the bulletin board in which his classes were posted, his previous encounter with Toutousai already forgotten considering he had too many to even begin to count. He raised an eye at a passing girl, vaguely remembering her face as being one of his exes who he had been in a short relationship (if he could rightly call it such) last year. He noticed her nose wasn't as crooked as he had remembered, and reckoned she had invested in plastic surgery or somewhat.

Taking his eyes off of her, he peeked over shoulders of various people to gaze at the numerous pieces of paper with names plastered everywhere on the wall. He could begin to feel a headache forming as he saw all the tiny small print. He was not what one would call an extremely motivated student.

"Don't bother, you're in the same classes as me," a voice said from behind, adding a rather reluctant, "…again."

Inuyasha turned around to grin at Miroku, putting an arm around the other boy's shoulders. "That means I'm passing my classes again!" he announced happily, while Miroku heaved an aggravated sigh.

"Indeed," he groaned and the both of them continued on their way to class, Miroku looking quite irritated and Inuyasha beaming as if the world couldn't get any better. Looking at the bag in the hanyou's hand, Miroku demanded, "I want my breakfast back."

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow before passing it back to him. "It's all yours," he told his friend before walking on ahead, fully aware of another exasperated sigh from Miroku behind him.

"You selfish twat," Miroku grumbled and threw the empty paper bag in a nearby trashcan, his stomach rumbling as if to remind him he was in need of food.

"Darwin's law. Survival of the fittest," Inuyasha replied casually as the two of them entered the six story building and walked towards the center stairs. However, Inuyasha stopped in his steps and pulled Miroku to him when he saw a girl strolling up the stairs, her long hair swishing around in the air.

"That ass looks really familiar," the hanyou told his friend, his eyes narrowing as if to determine who the girl was.

As if hearing the voice, the girl turned around to gaze at who had made that comment. Her eyes widened slightly at seeing Inuyasha before she smiled almost mockingly. "Inuyasha," she greeted, one hand at her hip as she leaned her weight on her right leg.

Inuyasha slapped himself mentally for having committed such a fatal mistake. "Sango," he replied, seeing the girl sending him a rather indifferent gaze.

"And what have you been doing this whole break that you couldn't even hit up an old friend to hang out?" she questioned grimly, walking down the stairs calmly towards the hanyou who looked frustrated.

"I was busy," he lied, although his whole break had consisted of doing absolutely nothing.

"Oh really?" she questioned, even if her tone suggested that she didn't believe a word that was coming out of his mouth. "Well, we're in the same class, so I guess you can't be too busy now," she continued, looking slightly amused by now.

Inuyasha ignored her and continued on his way, leaving behind a scowling Sango who hurried to catch up with the hanyou and the boy who was following him. She never talked to Miroku---he just wasn't a person she liked to get involved with. Whenever he would make a grab for her ass, she would give a well aimed slap to his cheek, and he would back off. "Well, considering the way you're overlooking my presence, I would assume you wanted to brush me off," she directed at Inuyasha, sarcasm lacing her voice.

Inuyasha simply shrugged, leaving his answer ambiguous.

After a while of Inuyasha walking with Miroku and Sango following close behind, they all filed into the rather rowdy classroom. Gazing around, Inuyasha noticed that there were only a few seats left in the class. He also thanked whatever god was watching over him when he noticed there were two pair of seats in the same row unoccupied by students and was far apart from the rest of the vacant seats.

He took a step towards it, although Sango voiced her disapproval. "There's only two seats there."

"I don't care," Inuyasha replied and dragged Miroku towards the seats, dumping himself rather unceremoniously into the first one.

Miroku couldn't quite hide a small smile when he noticed that the seat Inuyasha had occupied was to the right of a rather familiar figure---Kagome. Putting himself into the seat behind his friend, he gazed at the girl slouched rather protectively in her seat, opening her notebook in preparation for the notes.

Tapping his friend on the shoulders because the teacher had failed to appear yet, Miroku told him, "Hey, some students are coming over to bet on basketball after school next Friday."

Inuyasha gazed over his shoulders to ask, "How do we split?"

"The usual, six and four."

Inuyasha shook his long mane in disagreement. "Seven to three."

"What!"

"Gas money."

Miroku grumbled, but gave no further argument when he saw that Kagome was packing her things, looking as if to move to another seat. However, that was thwarted as the teacher came into the class, his bulging eyes seeming to narrow when it settled upon Inuyasha, who seemed to be smirking like a fool by the way he had positioned his body. Miroku just knew those things.

"Hello class," the teacher greeted, going behind his desk and putting his textbooks down. "And welcome to a new year of college. I am Toutousai-sensei and I'm sure we'll be accomplishing a lot this year." He gave a crooked smile to his students before continuing, "Considering today is the first day of class, I will be taking attendance."

Inuyasha, who had been smirking at the prospect of terrorizing Toutousai's life day after day, finally noticed something while making an observance of all the females in the class. His eyes fell upon the form of the girl next to him and recognition hit him hard. "Hey! You're the girl I met at the park this morning," he said, tilting his head towards her when he noticed that she made no attempt to look his way. "What's your name?" he asked out of curiosity.

"Higurashi Kagome," Toutousai said, looking around the class for someone to raise their hand or yell out 'Present.'

"Hello?" Inuyasha tried again, raising one eyebrow as he leaned towards the girl who seemed to tip further away. At least that meant she was listening to him. "What's your name?"

"Higurashi Kagome!"

"Here!" the girl suddenly answered abruptly, as if she had just heard her name.

"Kagome," Inuyasha tried on his tongue, finding that it sounded pleasant. "What was your last name again?" he asked, forgetting it.

"Higurashi," Miroku provided, as Inuyasha leaned back to gaze at his friend.

"You know each other?" he questioned, as he glanced at the girl who refused to look at him. Miroku nodded.

"Kotoku Inuyasha."

"Hey, Kagome. We met at the park when I asked you for directions. Do you remember me?" he asked, leaning almost completely over his desk to tease her. She acted as if she still didn't hear however.

"Kotoku Inuyasha."

Inuyasha raised his eyebrow in confusion. "How come you don't talk, Kagome?"

"Kotoku Inuyasha." Toutousai looked slightly infuriated by now as he glared at the man in his class who looked like he was making fun of one of his students.

"Helloooo, anyone home?" Inuyasha continued, looking like he enjoyed the entire thing while he was lightly poking his finger at Kagome's head.

Kagome ignored him however, and feeling slightly shunned, Inuyasha grabbed her face and turned it towards him. "Why don't you talk?" he asked, although she looked slightly surprised at his action and almost as if she dreaded his touch.

"Kotoku Inuyasha!" Toutousai repeated one more time, before grabbing his board eraser and flung it at the hanyou in an attempt to get the boy's attention and to stop him from terrorizing the poor girl.

Inuyasha's ears twitched at the sound and he turned his head towards the flying object. "Oh wow!" he exclaimed before moving his head to the side, making the eraser hit smack dab in Miroku's face.

"Ow…" Miroku mumbled as he felt white chalk dust falling down his face.

---

"Honestly, I don't know why I am your friend. It's a pain," Miroku complained as he washed his face in the sink, while Inuyasha was leaning against the wall next to the window, staring at the human with a sort of distant glint in his eyes. He didn't seem to be listening to Miroku as the violet-eyed boy brought up one sleeve to wipe away the water on his face.

Gazing intently at the hanyou for a quiet moment, Miroku announced, "Just give up on Kagome. It's for your own good."

Inuyasha blinked, breaking away from his reverie and looking at Miroku with a bewildered look. He instantly scowled however when he processed the sentence and appeared flustered. "Who said I was thinking about that weird girl?"

Miroku looked deadpanned.

"Uhh…but you know her?" Inuyasha continued, before adding, "She's interesting. That's all."

Miroku shrugged, leaning against the sink he had just washed his face in. "I've known her since high school. She _is _strange. She draws all day long yet somehow pulls off straight A's. She's quiet, doesn't really talk to anyone, and especially seems to not like boys. I remember once when we had a folk dance competition…she wouldn't participate and forced the whole class into a frenzy until I volunteered myself out of it as well."

"Does she have…a problem?"

"I don't know?"

Inuyasha looked thoughtful. "Men phobia?"

"I'm not sure if that's the exact term for it…but maybe. Especially if it's you…a walking sex symbol…" Miroku reflected, scratching his chin contemplatively. He smiled. "…Just like me!"

"You flatter me."

Miroku seemed to discard his joking exterior however as he advised his friend, "You better stay away from her anyway."

Inuyasha simply smirked and shrugged with a noncommittal air.

-

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Author's Notes: Wow, long first chapter. I think this is the only real chapter that closely follows Mars, then it'll start drifting. First off however, I will like to announce, **this is an Inu/Kag story**, no matter **what **I throw at you. Remember that. Miroku's feelings for Kagome will definitely be elaborated more, but it may not be what you think. Sango and Inuyasha's relationship will _unquestionably_ be explained as well. Hope you enjoyed the opening of this story!


	2. Fatal Attraction

Author's Notes: Second chapter. I'm a little sad that during my absence, all my favorite fellow authors have abandoned Inuyasha as well. I feel like such an old hag when I say so much has changed.

And for a short synopsis of Mars for those who haven't watched/read it and are interested: Boy is a motorcycle racer with a dream to race in GP. He has a (rather elusive) past that molded him into what he is now. Girl is an artist who was raped by her stepfather when she was younger, so she is distrustful of men and hates body contact. Boy falls for Girl, Girl falls for Boy (typical, duh), but what makes the whole thing interesting is everything else.

But as I said, the rape element of Mars has been dropped in this story because I don't believe I could write it to the best of my abilities without making it crude, and I wouldn't want that because it is a very difficult subject.

* * *

Dark Hero

Chapter Two

Fatal Attraction

* * *

The hardest thing about having an individual's attention was that the person more often than not concentrated solely on her. She didn't particularly like this individual's focus on her either because he kept attempting to talk to her, no matter how often she ignored him or how she refused to look at him. First, it had seemed to be a simple trivial attraction which she thought would subside in a day or two. But almost two school weeks had passed by and it was Friday of the second week, and yet, he continued to try to talk to her.

She had never replied---not a single word. It made sense that someone like Inuyasha would lose interest in her soon enough if she continued this way. In Toutousai's class, he often inclined over his desk to make some small talk with her, which repeatedly was a rather one-sided conversation. She found it hard not to listen, yet the things he spoke about were not very interesting to say the least---all about motorcycles, girls, and partying.

At lunch, he would sometimes randomly sit down next to her and make a crack about something she never replied to. He would babble on until he would just get up and leave her alone, which she had to confess she preferred rather than to his company. He never seemed to get angry that she never replied to him however…only a little frustrated. She wondered why.

In English class---which was the other class she had with him---instead of sitting in rows of individual seats, they sat in rows of connected chairs. He never sat with her in that class because of the abundance of seats, but he continued to strive and obtain her attention by throwing little pieces of notes at her. She never read them. In fact, she never even picked them up off the ground. She commended herself for her perseverance.

Yet, he never gave up as well. She had to give him credit for that. She had presumed him to throw a tantrum by now.

She knew however that he had no romantic interest in her. Someone like Inuyasha would not naturally have such a fatal attraction to a loner such as herself. She had to admit she had no friends, and many people never even knew her name although she had been in their classes for years. She never minded, of course. She preferred it that way.

She bit her lower lipas she pondered further.

Perhaps he viewed her as a sort of challenge…she was pretty sure she was the first girl who never replied or looked at him willingly. Such a conceited boy with an inflated ego would most likely find her as a test of his manliness. Men were that fickle after all…at least in her opinion.

But she was sure that such a wild person would soon find her quiet lifestyle a bore and leave her once and for all. She didn't like his attention in any case. He just wasn't a person she liked, considering the number of females he had slept with. Looks and no brains---just typical.

Thus on this nice afternoon, she found herself walking the halls of the fourth floor to her English class, feeling a presence behind her. She always felt his presence behind her now. He was always there, watching her, waiting for the moment she would speak. It wasn't a hostile presence, but it made her uncomfortable.

"Hello Kagome," he greeted, suddenly appearing next to her with that standard boyish grin on his face. He was always happy, and she wondered if anything ever got him sad.

She hugged her books closer to her chest, putting her head down just a little bit more as she increased her pace, hoping he would finally leave her alone. However, a little part of her seemed to spurn that idea.

"Did you see me peg Toutousai in the head with my pencil while he wasn't watching?" He was taking another shot at making conversation, but he received silence in return. This didn't seem to dampen his mood however. "Want to eat lunch with me today? It must be lonely sitting on that table by yourself."

She didn't reply.

He continued to attempt to make conversation about random things as they walked to class, although she was staring at the ground and he was smirking as if nothing could bring him down. When they reached the class however, Inuyasha grabbed her shoulders rather tightly, and Kagome completely froze up, an upset expression passing across her face. She tried to shrug his hands off as she felt something attempting to surface again.

"Kagome, why don't you ever talk?" he asked, but she just closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, calming herself. He wasn't going to hurt her.

He let her go, but before she could escape into the room, he brought his hand to her chin and tilted her head towards him. He stared deep into her eyes, and she wondered just what exactly he saw in them. His golden eyes were a beautiful sight to behold on the other hand.

"I can sense your fear. Why are you scared?" he questioned quietly, and she felt slightly mesmerized.

But as always, she never answered, and instead, fled from his touch by slipping into the room with her body posture radiating distrust. She could hear him growl slightly in what she could only imagine as aggravation as she quickly made her way up the steps to her seat, gliding into it easily. She kept her eyes trained onto her English text as she felt his presence pass her to take a seat further up---somewhere to her right---most likely to sit with his friend Miroku.

Honestly, what did he want with her? She was nothing special.

Seeing the teacher enter the room, she found herself reflecting about the man behind her instead of listening to the teacher's lecture.

Inuyasha was an idiot. That was the only word she could think of to describe him with at the moment. It was her and his junior year at Ashikawa, yet he had never recognized her existence prior to the start of the year, although they had almost been in every single class together beforehand. Granted she never attempted to promote any sort of discussion between them, but hisunconsciousness of her complete existence simply demonstrated his ignorance and superficiality.

He was famed throughout Ashikawa for his one night stands after all.

If she ever listened to girls talking about who they were with last night, Inuyasha would occasionally pop up in the conversation. Kagome was disgusted by the fact that she knew just what that boy did to girls at night. Weren't those things supposed to stay private?

He was wild. He was unpredictable. One day, he would be in class, and then another, he would be missing. She had seen him riding to school on that motorcycle at intense speeds on the first day, and had seen him every day from then on.

He was everything she was not. He was her opposite. And yet, he continued to attempt to try and talk to her. He really _was _unpredictable.

"Higurashi Kagome, can you please read the following paragraph of translation?" the teacher, Anami-sensei, called out, which caused Kagome to bolt slightly in her seat as she got up to read whatever it was she had just been instructed to interpret.

All thoughts concerning Inuyasha was banned from her mind now. Kagome bit her lip as she attempted to look over the shoulder of the student in front of her to distinguish what page they were on.

However, another voice was quicker.

"Page 45, Example 1," a familiar voice whispered, and she gulped as she swiftly opened up to the page and started reading.

In spite of this, she had a really soft voice and students began to fidget in their seats as they attempted to listen to her almost silent speech. It was a girl with red eye shadow who burst out as the advocate of everyone's discontent.

"Read louder. No one can hear you," a girl said in an even voice, shooting Kagome a rather exasperated glance. Kagome was surprised that a girl she didn't know showed such contempt to her simply reading too quietly for the class to hear.

She blinked and went back to the example, attempting to read it in a louder voice. However, that still didn't seem satisfactory to the class.

"Read louder. Are you mute?" the girl jabbed out loud, her magenta eyes shining with apathy.

The girl next to her laughed mockingly, and the teacher shushed the two as he made his way up the stairs to where Kagome was. "Hiraki Sango, that's enough. If your classmate can't speak loud, there is no reason for you to tell her to talk louder."

Anami-sensei put a hand on Kagome's shoulder and squeezed gently, making her sit down. Sango simply shrugged as she turned around in her own seat, gazing at the front of the class smugly. Anami-sensei continued to allow his hand to squeeze Kagome's shoulder for a little while more as he looked around for someone else to call upon.

Kagome didn't seem to react to this, although Inuyasha definitely noticed as he narrowed his eyes at the teacher's hand. He was touching her for an abnormally long time, yet the girl wasn't flinching or anything.

However, Inuyasha could definitely smell the growing displeasure within the girl as she must have become aware of it as well.

The teacher finally let her go, and Inuyasha breathed easier. Watching the teacher descend down the stairs to teach in front of the class once more, Inuyasha knew that he was bad news. He shrugged however and reclined back in his chair, slouching over and starring grimly as the professor continued with the lecture.

Gazing over at the girl in her seat, something manifested in his mind. There was still something he had to do.

Kagome felt something hit her head and bounce off, landing on the ground. Her eyes slid over to the offending object and saw that it was another one of Inuyasha's notes.

Honestly, did that boy _ever _give up?

"Hey, Kagome! It's for you!" he hissed in a low voice, pointing to the paper on the ground.

She ignored him.

"Come on, pick it up!"

No answer.

"Damn," he whispered after a few more moments of trying to convince her, before he leaned over his chair and picked up the piece of paper. Taking a step towards her, Inuyasha dumped the note into her lap. If Anami-sensei had seen, he ignored it, and Kagome simply looked on with the note on her skirt.

She really did try to just ignore it. She really did. But it was just so tempting now.

She finally caved in and reached down for the note, unfolding it and smoothing it out on the piece of available space in front of her. She gazed at the messy handwriting on the note.

_I have the mother and child drawing you drew on the back of the map you gave me. _

---

It was lunchtime. She thought she was alone and free from his advances (if she could rightly call them 'advances')…until he abruptly slipped into the chair across from her and grinned. She spared him a small look before concentrating on her lunch again, finding that the vegetables today looked rather interesting. She had never noticed that sickening green tinge to her carrots before.

"So, ready to talk?" he asked, putting his elbow on the table and his chin in his hand, and staring almost innocently at her. She could just feel his gaze burning into the top of her head, but she didn't succumb to the tactic. After a few moments of silence from her, he responded to his own question with a, "I guess not."

"Hey Inuyasha, what do you want for lunch?" Miroku called out from the lunch line.

"Anything you're getting," Inuyasha replied.

With his food taken care of, Inuyasha resumed in gazing at the girl in front of him with some sort of fascination, watching her pick at her rice before putting a small amount in her mouth. To be truthful, the only reason he bothered her was because he found her intriguing in her silence, as if challenging his charm. Not that he possessed any pleasant charm, but the other girls sure threw themselves at him enough to make him believe he contained a small sufficient amount.

"So do you want your drawing back?" he asked.

She looked up at him for a second, obviously signaling that she did, before she went back to studying her food rather intently. He wondered how her voice sounded like. She wasn't mute---that much Miroku had informed him---yet somehow, she just never responded to him. He was sure she _must _talk a bit with some other students…so why not with him?

"Why don't you talk?" he asked again, feeling quite exasperated knowing that he had dedicated a lot of time to attempt to talk to her. He didn't spend this much time on some other girls.

"Do you need me to open your mouth with my tongue?" he told her as a joke, although by her abrupt rise from her seat, she didn't seem to see it as such.

"Oy, I'm just joking," he continued as he watched her depart, leaving her food behind and giving him a slightly annoyed look. He mentally sighed. She was such a hard girl to understand. Was she just shy, or did she feel disinclined to talk to him for some reason?

"Told you to give it up," Miroku chided, as if speaking to a little boy as he arrived at the table with two plates of food. He put down a plate of some sort of steak in front of Inuyasha and sat in the seat Kagome had just gotten up from. "Kagome's different. Stop playing around with her."

"It's not even considered playing when she doesn't even _talk_," Inuyasha complained.

"Just leave her alone, Inuyasha. It'll be good for the both of you," Miroku advised as he stuck a piece of meat into his mouth, ignoring the sulking evident on his friend's face.

_He's such a spoiled kid,_ Miroku mentally thought, before smirking.

_But I guess I'm just as bad as him sometimes. _

---

Time really did fly by today. She noticed that it was already after school on a Friday and so far, it seemed as if Inuyasha wouldn't be bothering her anymore. Making her way slowly down the numerous stairs to the first floor to take another flight of stairs up to the second floor for the art building, Kagome couldn't resist the eerie feeling that someone was following her. It wasn't the same as Inuyasha's presence---she didn't really care about his anymore. This person's was much more foreign, and although she was in an open public school area, she couldn't help but feel slightly nervous.

Ever since that incident, she seemed to be able to feel auras around her easier.

Walking down a few more stairs, she noticed that the presence was still behind her and she slowed down, before coming to a complete stop at the bottom of the staircase. Turning around, she gazed up at the path she had just taken down and saw someone make eye contact with her. She noticed it was Inuyasha's friend, Miroku.

However, the moment he saw that she was looking at him, he took his eyes off of her and hurried along his way, not once sparing a glimpse at her again. She couldn't help but feel that he was the person who had been following her, but brushed the feeling off. Perhaps she was just being silly.

Walking slowly, she descended down the few steps which led to the front of the school, where she saw the long stretch of road that would eventually lead everyone out of campus. She stood there and gazed down the street, feeling the sun warming her skin and shining into her eyes. Bringing one spare hand up to shield herself from the rays, she sighed as she watched students laughing and smiling as they made their way home and others gossip as they made their way to their next class.

People enjoyed such carefree days now…where had hers gone?

It wasn't that she was enslaved to loneliness because slavery wouldn't be the correct term if she preferred to be isolated from the rest of the world. She believed it was always better off if she didn't develop any attachment to transient events, such as school and everything that went with it.

It was also easier to cope with if there wasn't any unnecessary affection involved.

The only problem with her plan was that Inuyasha had suddenly developed the strange knack to scout her out and then proceed to engage in a one-sided conversation almost every day in every class. She couldn't quite figure out a way to get rid of him, but she had to admit that she was slowly getting accustomed to it. He wasn't as bad as she had first reckoned.

"Hey Kagome, Kagome!" a voice sounded from behind her and she sighed mentally. "Are you going home?" he asked as he jogged up next to her, shouldering his red backpack casually as he smirked down at the girl.

In addition, no matter how much she denied it, she had failed to notice that there _had_ been slight progress in their relationship---She could look at him now.

She stared at him, her blue eyes scouting for some motive in his actions. She needed to know why he always attempted to talk to her---to try and strike a conversation when she had never said a word to him. Wasn't he tired of never hearing a single word from her mouth?

Before she knew it, her words had left the tip of her tongue and it felt foreign as she heard her own voice.

"No, I'm going to the art studio…" she whispered.

The stunned gape he gave her was almost worth it.

He stopped staring at her like a fish with its mouth open however, and was silent for a while, staring down at the girl before him. Soon, he grinned and his eyes even seemed to soften a little. "Art studio…" he repeated. "Are you a member of the art club?"

She nodded.

"Well, I'm going to the basketball courts. Why don't you---"

"Inuyasha. Hurry up, will you? They're here," Miroku cut in, staring up at his friend from the bottom of the last small flight of stairs, his eyes slightly apathetic and cautioning his friend to not bring it any further.

"Oh yea, sure, whatever," Inuyasha replied offhandedly before turning to the girl next to him and asking, "Hey…do you have some money to lend me right now?"

She gazed up at him again, wondering if he was serious, before seeing the earnestness in his golden eyes. He never did change.

Kagome reached for her purse then and took out some bills, holding it out to him.

He eagerly took the money and said, "I'll definitely pay you back. I'll even double it when I give it back to you."

Inuyasha proceeded to turn and make his way towards Miroku, before he stopped and turned around with a second thought. Reaching towards Kagome, who flinched as she watched the hand grow closer, he avoided her face as she had initially thought, and instead reached behind her head.

She felt something slip and her hair cascaded over her shoulders in wavy locks of ebony. She saw him holding her pink hair tie and her eyes widened slightly. Her hair hadn't been seen down at school in years, and she was sort of shocked that Inuyasha had just so casually taken her hair tie away.

"I'll borrow this for a while too, okay?" he said, smirking as he gazed at the girl in front of him. A moment passed as he was scrutinizing her. Something seemed to be going through his mind.

"Your hair is nice down," he commented unexpectedly before running towards his friend, who by now was tapping his foot impatiently. Inuyasha jokingly slapped his friend on the back, and both of them continued on their way to the courts.

Kagome simply stared at the back of Inuyasha's head as thoughts ran around in her own. She was kind of doubtful that he would ever pay her back, but what somewhat bothered her was that she realized they both just had a small conversation which ended up with him taking her hair tie and allowing her long hair to fall freely. It was such a simple deed, but somehow…

Biting her lower lip, she continued on her way towards the art building. The sun shone lightly against the cheek that was facing it, and she could feel the warmth rush over her again. She had forgotten about the warm air when she was talking to Inuyasha, but now that he was gone, she was aware of it once more. It even seemed a little warmer than before.

Strolling into the art building, she noticed that a few of the other students were already in the humungous room which took up the space of two stories with the entrance being on the second floor. Descending down another flight of stairs which led to the bottom of the room, Kagome wandered over to her easel and placed her backpack next to her stool. Sitting down, she gazed at the subject which she was going to draw today.

She was a tad astonished when she saw that it was a sculpture of the upper body of the god of war. A card underneath the small pillar it had been placed on displayed the name 'Mars' clearly in black writing.

She smiled slightly.

---

Perhaps an hour had passed, but she honestly didn't notice. It felt like she was under a spell every time she drew. She felt as if she departed from the material world and was lost in another dimension where it was only her and a subject. The only time she had realized that life wasn't a continuous series of drawing and that she had a life outside of her and the bust of Mars was when some interesting words penetrated her obliviousness.

"Look at those boys. They're pretty cute."

Kagome stopped her drawing as she blinked and finally realized there were people near her. Bringing her gaze over to the window, she saw two of the art students staring outside at something…or someone.

"Especially that guy over there." The other girl stopped to point at someone. "He looks so adorable. He uses a pink hair tie!" she commented and giggled, gazing at someone Kagome could only imagine was Inuyasha.

In her mind, she could picture him moving gracefully around his opponents, his golden eyes calculating every move and action. And in his hair would be her pink hair tie, such a contradicting factor to his personality…

Stopping her thoughts before they wandered further, Kagome attempted to bring her attention back to the drawing. It was just Inuyasha---the man who attempted to make conversation wtih her every day and she had finally talked to after two weeks. She didn't have time to think about him.

Shading in the lines of her drawing, Kagome noticed the two girls retreating from the window and going over to their easels. Picking up their backpack, one of them saw Kagome staring at her.

"Kagome, aren't you done yet?" she questioned as she and her friend started walking towards the stairs.

Kagome shook her head. "I'm just finishing up."

"Well, when you're done, sign out and lock the door, okay? We're going. Bye."

Kagome nodded and took her eyes off the girls as they began to ascend the stairs towards the door. Bringing her attention back to the drawing, she felt her hand drop from the paper to rest in her lap. For some reason, she just couldn't go back to properly concentrating on Mars.

Staring out the window, Kagome watched the rays of the warm sun bathing everything in a cozy amber glow. It strangely reminded her of Inuyasha's eyes.

Failing to notice the minutes passing, Kagome faintly heard the door slam shut. She assumed it was the girls, and missed the sound of the bolt fastening. When she heard someone taking steps down the stairs however, she looked towards that direction, and saw someone gazing at her.

"Anami-sensei," she acknowledged with a little surprise, blinking her eyes as she saw her English teacher. "Are you looking for me?"

"No," he answered, as he walked towards her. "I was just passing by and I came down to take a look."

Kagome stared at him, feeling slightly uncomfortable, although she wasn't exactly sure why. The look in his eyes was strange, although oddly familiar. Frowning slightly, she took her eyes off of him and gazed back at her drawing.

He went behind her, putting both hands on her shoulders as he scrutinized her artwork. "You're a very talented individual," he commented as he compared Kagome's drawing to the bust of Mars.

Kagome didn't answer as she felt her nervousness soar, the contact of his hand on her shoulders making her extremely tense. She hated it when people made pointless body contact with her, even if it was a teacher.

His next comment however, threw her for a loop and made the beat of her heart escalate.

"Your hair smells nice," he whispered in a low voice, and Kagome could feel him bringing his face to her head as she felt his hand slipping over her shoulders and trailing down her body. She sat rigidly as her eyes widened, fear gripping every nerve inside of her as she was only aware of the offending touch of Anami-sensei.

A sick gut feeling developed in her stomach as she felt his hand trail under her scarf, his fingers slipping into her jacket.

Horror hit her as hard as a brick, and she felt herself stop breathing as fright appeared in the blue of her eyes, her hands fisting into the material of her skirt. She wanted to strike back and tell him to get his hands off of her, but something inside of her kept her rooted to her spot and it felt as if none of her limbs could move. She was terrified as she realized what he wanted to do, and her body shook in quiet tremors as she closed her eyes in terror.

Suddenly, the sound of a slamming door sounded throughout the vast room and Anami-sensei retracted his hands as if it burned. He looked up, stunned that anyone could have gotten in after he had locked the door.

Inuyasha was gazing at the two with one of his eyebrows raised although his eyes were conspicuously darkened. "Anami-sensei," he began in an even voice. "May I inquire on why an English teacher is in the art room?"

The English teacher chose to ignore his question. "What are you doing sneaking around!" he demanded.

Inuyasha raised his eyebrows even more. "Sneaking around? Is it a crime to enter this room? I simply came through the back door that I doubt you could lock if you didn't know about it."

Inuyasha smiled pleasantly, as if he had been commenting about the weather.

"You aren't in the art club. Why are you in here!" Anami-sensei continued, his strict voice gaining confidence as it echoed around the room and made him sound firm.

Inuyasha chuckled slightly.

"More importantly, why would a teacher who sexually harasses his students be in the art room?" The smile was wiped off of the white-haired boy's face as he glared grimly at Anami-sensei.

"Don't say things like that to your teacher or I'll have you suspended."

"Suspended?" Inuyasha echoed as his hand slid towards a matte knife near some art utensils close by, picking it up gingerly as he glowered at the teacher from underneath his bangs. His fangs showed as a low growl sounded from his throat. "Don't make yourself sound like such a victim."

Walking across the now silent room, Inuyasha slid the blade in and out of the knife, his gaze intent on the now nervous Anami-sensei. The sound of the retractable blade reverberated throughout the room and Kagome could feel her heart beating faster now as she saw an unrecognizable glint in Inuyasha's eyes. She had never seen him look so dead serious in his life before.

"What are you doing!" the teacher commanded as his uneasy glance slipped periodically from Inuyasha to the knife in his hands.

"Nothing," Inuyasha answered in an ominous tone. "I'm just getting ready to do some artwork."

"What?" Anami-sensei stuttered as he backed away from Kagome and the man in front of him, although he was stopped when he ran into some statues. His eyes widened as he watched the student stalk towards him, a malicious glint shining in his eyes.

When Inuyasha walked closer to Kagome however, she could feel herself staring fearfully at the boy in front of her. Would he really attack the teacher, even if he had touched her? Seeing the look in his eyes, she felt herself stand up abruptly on her own, hitting some of her art utensils to the floor accidentally and causing a crash to resound.

This seemed to stop Inuyasha in his tracks as he glanced down at the utensils, then at Kagome. His gaze slipped over to teacher, who by now was pale with fear.

"Y-you're crazy! I don't need to waste my time with a felonious…_hanyou_ like you!" he stammered before running towards the stairs which led to the main entrance. He never looked back.

Inuyasha watched him almost tripping over his own step in his haste to get out of the art room and scoffed mentally. When he heard the slam of the door, he was content, and looked back at the girl in front of him. She was staring at the ground. They were both silent for a while.

But it was Inuyasha who broke the silence.

"You're stupid."

She gazed up at him, some nervousness still reflecting in her eyes. He frowned even more.

"You're fucking stupid," he repeated, adding the derogative word to emphasize his point. "Why didn't you stop him?"

She opened her mouth to say something---anything---to prove that she wasn't as stupid as she seemed. However, she noticed nothing came out. Perhaps she really did look as stupid as the situation had made it seem…she sure felt stupid now. But she hadn't been able to do anything before---she had been too terrified, paralyzed, and frightened to move.

"If you let him touch you, at least make him pay you a lot of money," he suggested, although he didn't realize how cruel it had sounded. When he saw that she was about to cry, he frowned, not knowing what to do. It made him feel uncomfortable. "Don't be so timid if you don't like it. Nothing attracts those perverts like weakness and naiveté."

Sighing, he turned his attention over to the sculpture near him. It piqued his curiosity and he decided that it would help to lighten the mood. Walking over to the statue, he gazed at the nameplate under it. "Mars." He turned around to look at Kagome, who was now staring at him with a glassy look in her eyes. "The planet Mars?"

She gazed at the bust for a while before she answered quietly, "The God of War, Mars."

"God of war," Inuyasha repeated, as his mind struggled to remember information. "Wasn't he the coward who the Greeks said was bloodthirsty and aggressive, yet was afraid of defeat?"

Kagome smiled slightly.

"Yes…but the Romans depicted him differently."

"Really?"

Kagome nodded, breathing out as she continued to gaze at Mars. She closed her eyes as she explained softly, "The Romans said he wore shining armor, looked dignified, and was unstoppable."

She stopped talking, as if thinking about something. Inuyasha watched her carefully, waiting for her to continue.

"He was a dark hero who helped people overcome tragedy."

"A hero who overcomes tragedy…" Inuyasha echoed, bringing his face down to stare fixedly at the details of the god of war. He brought a finger up to stroke the sharp curves of the statue's face, and took in a breath as he admired the magnificence. The bravery and beauty blended together stunningly on the statue, and without really understanding why he did it, he brought his lips to the statue. It wasn't in any way romantic, but it gave him a feeling of appreciation as he took his lips away.

The Roman description was indeed right.

"Inuyasha, come on, are you done yet?" Miroku asked from the doorway which led to the backroom. He had waited for a while for his friend and had wandered in to find out what was happening. He had found the hanyou staring at a statue.

"Yea," Inuyasha answered and straightened up, taking something from his pocket and throwing it towards Kagome. "You know…you should talk more. Your voice is pretty."

The girl caught it sort of clumsily, but when she looked down, she noticed that it was a roll of bills. It was doubled as promised and tied together with her hair tie. She stared down at it, a small smile growing on her face. He had actually kept his promise.

She looked up to see him walking towards his friend, and before she knew it, two words slipped from her lips. "Thank you."

He looked back casually over his shoulders, waving one hand flippantly. "Whatever."

Her smile stayed as she watched him leave.

-

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* * *

A/N: Now you know why the series was named Mars. I found it extremely intriguing. I found it also fit Inuyasha to a T.

And to answer some questions…

I update sporadically. There is no set timeframe for me to update…so expect some chapters in a few days, and others in weeks. It all depends on my mood.

This story will be more loosely tied to the drama instead of the book because I started with the drama and have only begun reading the book.

Kikyou will appear later. Rejoicing yet?


	3. Painting Mars

Author's Note: Third chapter. Sorry about the delay, I caught a bad case of the flu…again.

* * *

Dark Hero

Chapter Three

Painting Mars

* * *

Some hours had passed since school had ended, and the hanyou found himself walking along a familiar street in search of his Friday requirements. The skies were a dark background speckled with shining stars, and only a few people were ambling around on the streets. Seeing the low, soft light of the shop he was looking for, Inuyasha stuffed his hand into his pockets.

Strolling into the convenience store, Inuyasha began whistling to some tune he had heard the other day as he looked around to locate his necessities. Spotting them, he wandered over to the aisle and picked up a six-pack of beer, holding it with one hand and making his way towards the counter, which was currently empty.

Walking past a mirror, he stopped in his path, before taking steps back slowly. Feeling something manifest inside of him, he reluctantly brought his head up to the mirror.

The case of beers slipped from between his fingers and shattered upon impact with the ground, the shards of glass spreading across the floor. Beer began to trickle from the casing as well, while Inuyasha stared at the mirror. His breaths began to increase rapidly as he saw the lack of a reflection, his hands slightly shaking by his side.

"No…"

He closed his eyes tightly, willing his image to appear. When he opened them again, it was there, and he saw how pale his face had become. Disgusted with the person in front of him, he looked away. He was so pitiful.

Bringing his gaze back to his image, he felt fear grip his heart once more when the image before him was indeed himself, but in place of his terror, there was a derisive smile on the reflection's lips. Inuyasha's eyebrows came together in anxiety, and he felt himself become short of breath once more.

"Stop!"

Before he registered the action, his fists connected with the glass and he saw the tiny pieces fall like silver snow to the ground, landing near his feet. The blood trickled between his fingers, dripping down to mingle with the shards. Feeling the pain blossom, Inuyasha smirked contemptuously as he retracted his hand, seeing pieces of glass embedded into his flesh.

Without bothering to think about the damage he had just delivered, he staggered over to the door, hearing the sounds of yelling behind him as the cashier kid emerged from the back room. There was a dulled cursing coming from the kid's general direction, but Inuyasha didn't bother to decipher what the words meant as he fell out into the streets in a haze.

He could see random people give him horrified or disgusted gazes, either by the blood dripping down from his knuckles or the dreadful state he was in. But, he was hardly aware of these looks as he continued stumbling down the dark streets, seeing cars zipping past in a blur and dim lights shining from passing shops. They seemed to blend together in a whirl of lights and it made him want to throw up.

He brought his hand up to his head as a sudden flash of a doctor with an ambiguous face appeared in his mind, before it disappeared to only surface once more. Seeing a random alleyway, he lurched towards the deserted corner and felt himself lean his weight against the wall, voices manifesting in his mind.

"_After the incident, the images won't disappear due to the influence of a nerve problem. He can't look at himself, or any image of himself because of the memory. This will cause him to develop emotions, such as one being fear. When he reaches the point of panic, he will enter the state of false death; He will stop breathing, and his heart may even stop beating. It is a reaction to not remembering." _

Inuyasha squeezed his eyes shut as images flashed through his mind, reminding him of his past. He hated this. He hated these memories.

Sliding down the dirty alleyway wall to lay sprawled along the ground, he slammed his head back into the bricks in an attempt to make the images disappear. He was only aware of a sharp pain releasing from his head, but was not disappointed when the figures vanished from his mind and instead, he could slightly see the stars above.

Taking in deep breaths, Inuyasha slowly allowed his hands to drop from his head, landing in the slightly damp ground next to him. Concentrating on the stars far above him, he allowed his mind to wander down forbidden thoughts. It was the easiest way to assure that he wouldn't stop breathing.

Somehow however, he found that the first thing that popped up in his mind was not what usually plagued him.

Surprisingly, the first image was that of Kagome's drawing, which he had kept in his backpack and had only told her was at home because he had wanted to gaze at it more. He remembered the emotions he had felt when he saw it, and at that moment, he found himself smiling almost bitterly as he realized why he was probably attracted to the drawing.

Inuyasha stayed in his position on the ground in the alley for a while, but not because he was physically unable to get up.

Somehow, mentally, he just couldn't get himself to forgive himself for his weakness.

---

It was Monday. She really didn't enjoy Mondays at all. Not many people liked Mondays because that meant another week of work and pressure, and she was one of those people. Sparing a glance at the subject she was painting for art class that day, she found herself being distracted by a rather flagrant red in the corner of her eyes.

She was surprised that although it was him once more, she didn't find herself dreading the words that were coming out of his mouth.

"Hey Kagome! Pst, can we talk right now?"

Forget about dreading the words from his mouth. He was asking her to ditch class when her teacher was right behind her. The idiot.

"Kagome, is there a problem?" the art professor questioned curiously, wondering why Inuyasha wanted to talk to one of her most well-behaved students.

"Nothing…" Kagome answered quietly, deciding to go back to ignoring the hanyou and concentrating on her painting.

"Hey! I need to talk to you for a moment, Kagome!"

The professor sent the waving student a rather cold glare, clearly signaling for him to stop disrupting her class. He simply grinned at her as a reply.

"Can I talk to Kagome for a second?" he asked, a charming smile in place.

"Kagome…why are you associating with such a bad kid?" the professor asked as she frowned and studied her quiet student. She shook her head. "Well, class is about to end, and since you're mostly done, go and talk to him. I expect this to never happen again though, do you understand?"

Kagome nodded, feeling rather bizarre that her professor would allow her to talk to someone during class time. Seeing Inuyasha using his hand as a gesture to hurry up, she slipped out of her stool and walked over to him. She didn't miss the inquisitive stares she got from her fellow students, and wondered what they were thinking this very moment. She didn't fail to see the jealous glares from some of the girls either as they began to pack their things in their backpacks and commenced whispering to one another.

Keeping her head down, she walked up to Inuyasha and questioned rather forcefully, "What is it?"

"Come on, we'll talk in the back," he said in reply, and put his hand on her arm, not missing the tightening of her jaws. He ignored this however, and pulled her towards the back room, which was the storage area.

Letting her go, he turned around to face her, leaning against one of the many busts of various statues. He sent her a grin as he dug through his pocket for something, before taking out a piece of paper and handing it to her. She took it gently, careful as to not have their fingers brush, before opening the crumpled paper to read its content.

"Sorry it's wrinkled. I don't take good care of things, even if they're not mine."

Kagome stared down at her sketch. He actually returned it to her. "Thank you."

"You're thanking me? I ruined the picture."

Kagome shook her head. "No…it's just a draft. I won't need it after I paint it on canvas," she explained, as she began to carefully fold the piece of paper and put it in her own pocket.

"You won't need it?" Inuyasha echoed. "Can I have the draft after you're done then?"

Kagome gazed up at him for a moment, before shaking her head as she looked down once more. "I'll give you the final oil painting."'

"Really?" Inuyasha asked, his eyes widening in almost childlike elation. "But this isn't fair. It's not like I can give you anything in return."

Kagome shrugged. "Doesn't matter." She guessed she owed him in a way, for everything so far.

Inuyasha laughed, his deep voice making her smile slightly. He was so uninhibited. "How about I give you my protection. Okay? I'll protect you."

She looked up at him, some sort of inexpressible emotion in her eyes. No one had bothered to offer their protection to her before, and the one person who had…

"Is that fine?" he continued. "That's all I can offer anyway."

She nodded gently.

"Well, then I'll be going." He turned around to make his way to the backdoor. However, he stopped in his steps and turned around, as if he forgot something. "Oh, and by the way, if you ever want to fool around and need my body, that's free." He winked and continued on his way.

He hadn't really expected an answer from the quiet girl.

"Can you lend me your body right now?"

"What!" Swinging around, Inuyasha accidentally hit one of the busts and caused a domino effect. The other busts continued to fall and he winced every time one hit the ground, and flinched when one cracked. When it finally finished with the last bust landing at Kagome's feet, he chuckled nervously. "Oops?" He seemed sheepish, but nervous. "You mean…right here?" His eyes quickly swept the room, and he could feel himself making a face.

"I meant, can you lend me your body to be my model?"

His eyes widened a little before he gave her an oh-I-knew-that look, shrugging noncommittally. "I know my body is appealing, but if you really want it, I'll show you the close-up and personal version." He saw her frown slightly, and laughed it off. "I'm joking."

Hesitating for a moment, he answered with an uncertain "Sure."

She simply nodded. "I think everyone has left. We can start now."

He shrugged again as a reply, and seeing her retreat back into the art room, he followed her, carefully stepping over the disaster he had caused. Gazing around at the wide expanse of space in the art room, he realized that he had saved the very girl in front of him from sexual harassment last Friday in this room. He wondered if he hadn't been there, would the teacher had gone further? The mere thought of that man touching her was sickening…she was too innocent.

"Here, sit here," she motioned as she rolled a chair into the middle of the room, motioning for him to come over. "Sit however you like."

While walking over to her canvas, Inuyasha placed his backpack on the ground and then turned around to gaze at her. "Do you want me to take off anything?" he asked, a suggestive tone underlying his words.

"Just your jacket," she answered straightforwardly.

Sighing, he took off his beloved red jacket and sat down heavily on the seat, his legs spread apart and his body slouched. He yawned as he watched her set up the necessary equipment, and decided to start talking again. Now that he had finally gotten the quiet girl to talk to him, he found himself not exactly wanting her to retreat back and stop. She really did have a lovely voice, although he told himself he would never tell her that again. It had slipped from his lips last time.

"Why do you hate men?"

She ignored him and continued setting up, her eyes avoiding contact with his as she shuffled around.

"Is it because…you like girls?"

She sent him a rather dry look---perhaps her first one with an emotion other than indifference or indignation---and he laughed. "Well, you can't blame me for coming to that conclusion when you don't like men."

"Men are men," she answered vaguely, as she got ready to begin.

Inuyasha reclined back into the comfortable chair as he gazed at the girl working behind her easel, seeing her sparing him a fleeting glance every once in a while. "I heard the end of the world is coming around someday," he announced randomly, deciding that perhaps he could sit still for her, but she could not stop him from talking.

"What do you think will happen when that comes around?" he continued, although he received no reply. "Did you hear about the Mars prophecy?"

She sent him one inquisitive look, and he decided it was her okay sign to continue talking.

"It says that one day, Mars will rule this world." He stopped to think about what he just said. "I wonder what the world would be like if Mars ruled it?"

"You question a lot…and you seem to believe Mars is evil."

"No. Not really. I just don't care. Everyone is so afraid of the future…so afraid of life ending. Wouldn't it be better to just come to a glorious and magnificent end? Like they say, go out with a bang? You can't escape death forever."

Kagome listened to him---she always did, even if she didn't seem like it---and pondered over his point. Was life really worth living for, or like he said, should people just all go out with a bang? She had to admit the world was corrupt already, and to attain world peace and all thosegood things people preached, was an utopian fantasy.

Inuyasha was right in a twisted sort of way…

Yet…

Glimpsing over at her subject, she saw that his right hand was slightly scarred. She knew he was a hanyou and they healed fast, but what had happened to make his knuckles look so pained? "What happened to your hand?" she asked.

There was no reply.

Bringing her gaze up to look at his face, she put her pencil down gently. He was sleeping.

Getting off her stool, she made her way quietly over to sleeping boy, his head slightly inclined to the right as he breathed in and out lightly. He must have been really tired if he fell asleep that quickly. She wondered what he had been doing last night to get him this exhausted; Perhaps she didn't want to know. Bending over slightly to stare at his face, Kagome found herself mesmerized.

How did it feel to be a hanyou, torn between two worlds and races? He never seemed to make his blood a big deal, and girls didn't really seem to care about it either, but she knew he must receive some sort of criticism from those who believe humans and youkai should stick to their own kind. Not many people bothered about that nowadays, and humans and youkai did live together easily…but still…she wondered, how did it feel to not belong to either worlds?

Smiling, she continued to observe his sleeping face.

However, he didn't really seem like such a bad person as she had initially thought. She had been wrong. It was true that he was wild, and it was also hard to connect and understand him, but his intentions were always clear. His face was innocent and held no trace of malice.

It was in that moment that she felt as if she understood all the other girls who had been partial to Inuyasha before. Although she had initially considered him to be a brainless wonder with nothing but emptiness in his head, she could now see something she had never noticed before.

Even with good looks and the external shows of superficiality, the inner part of him that was untainted shone with a beauty she had rarely perceived in others.

She stopped herself in mid action when she found herself reaching towards him, wanting to touch his face. Retracting her hand, she instead picked up his jacket and laid it over him, hoping it would protect him from the chill.

Perhaps the pure side of him was what caused her to talk to him in the first place. She found that although he occasionally touched her, she wasn't as afraid of his touch as she was of other mens'. Granted, she still felt uncomfortable, but there was something else that stopped her from completely hating his touch.

Compared to other people, she found Inuyasha to be someone she could accept. While others, no matter how much they pretended, their true character would reveal in time. Appearances could be deceiving, and her English teacher had proved that. It didn't matter how much they tried to hide their true nature, their wickedness would reveal bit by bit. Those were the people she was afraid of.

---

"To appear is a verb. That's easy, right? Can I have someone come up and construct a sentence using this verb," Anami-sensei asked, looking around and smirking mentally when he saw that the hanyou was asleep again. "Kotoku Inuyasha. Why don't you come up and help us all out."

Miroku elbowed his friend rather firmly in the side, causing the other boy to snort and wake up from whatever dream he had been having.

"Wha?" he mumbled groggily, bringing a hand up to wipe his sleepy eyes.

"The professor wants you to go up and construct a sentence using 'appear,'" Miroku explained, and didn't miss the dark look that suddenly flashed through his friend's eyes.

"Anami-sensei, I'll do it for him!" Sango volunteered, shooting her hand up high and waving it around.

"No, let's have Kotoku do this one," the professor said, smiling up at his student. To anyone, it would have been an innocent smile, but Inuyasha could recognize the spite in the twist of his smile. That man wanted to embarrass him. "What's the matter? It can't be hard for you."

Glaring at the professor, Inuyasha jumped up from his seat and stalked down the stairs to the front of the class. He could have allowed what happened Friday to breeze by if the idiot hadn't opened his big trap of a mouth, but now that he had woken him up from sleep, he was going to regret it. Inuyasha hated it when people bugged him from his sleep.

Going in front of the white board, he picked up a marker and looked thoughtful.

Anami-sensei gave a rather small undignified snort as he watched the hanyou stare at the board, before commenting so only Inuyasha could hear, "Are you really as stupid as you look?"

Inuyasha sent him a rather irritated glare before watching the professor walk away. Snorting in his own contempt for people like Anami, he opened the cap to the marker and began writing.

Students began to whisper as Sango seemed amused at the sentence on the board. Anami-sensei, who had been rearranging some things on his desk saw the commotion of his class and turned around to look at the board, at the same time Inuyasha began to read his sentence in perfect and fluent English.

"_This professor **appears** to be nice and honest, but is really a man who sexually harasses his students." _

Seeing the horrified expression on his professor's face, Inuyasha translated the sentence to Japanese. The fuss of the students heightened as they began staring and whispering at their professor.

"Quiet! I will not have such behavior in my class. This is all nonsense. How dare you write something like that on the board! Do you even understand what you wrote!" Anami-sensei bellowed, his face going red from either embarrassment or ire, or both.

Inuyasha looked deadpanned. "Anami-sensei, I have lived in Los Angeles for eight years since I was eight. I could pass this class in a heartbeat, but I don't bother to try when you're the professor." Sending him a triumphant smirk, he began to ascend the stairs to his seat again, but not before stopping near Kagome.

"I told you I'll protect you," he told her, smiling as he reached out his hand to give her hair a light ruffle.

A thousand thoughts ran through Kagome's head as she gazed at the warm golden eyes beaming down at her. She felt her heart soar and seeing him leave to take his seat, she returned his smile quietly.

---

The president of the psychiatric hospital walked along the rather white corridor, seeing some of his patients crying or running around. Seeing a familiar little girl sitting by herself, tangled in cotton thread, she stopped to put a hand on her head.

"Rin, you tore your clothes again?" she asked gently, seeing the little girl look up at her with apathy in her eyes. She never spoke---not a word---but always preferred to rip apart her sweaters and such. Perhaps she saw it as a way of releasing her pain at seeing her family being killed, but in any case, the little girl never spoke and she had yet to figure out how to help her. "Well, you should go out and try and play with your friends now."

She didn't nod, she didn't speak, but resumed in ripping apart her clothing thread by thread.

Sighing, Kaede continued walking to her office, her old age making her steps a bit heavier than she remembered. Pushing the door to her room open, she was relieved to see that the patient she had wanted to converse with was inside. He had been observing her fishes in their small fish tank, but turned around when he heard the door open.

"Hello," he greeted, a small smile on his face. "Two of your fishes were fighting and now they're both dead," he informed smoothly, showing her the two fishes that were now floating around on top of the water.

"I'll get new fishes," she answered, before motioning for him to sit down. He shook his head, preferring to walk over to the window and stare out at children and adults alike strolling around in the garden.

She examined the young man in front of her, before shaking her head. "You're not wearing your hospital clothes again," she commented, seeing that he had chosen to dress himself in dark colors.

"It makes me feel more normal than how everyone else makes me seem."

"Well, your doctor has informed me that you'll be released from the hospital in two weeks. Hasn't it been a few years since you've been here, Naraku?" she questioned, seeing the dark-haired man turn to give her an inquisitive gaze.

"You know my name," he said simply.

"People always come and go around here, but I remember every patient and their individual stories. I don't forget," she informed, a few of her older memories surfacing as she remembered the pain and suffering of the patients.

"That's such a twist of fate. I've been trying to find someone to answer a question for me," Naraku asked, his dark eyes floating to his pocket as he took out a piece of paper. Smoothing the paper out, he walked over to the old woman and held it out for her to take. When she was studying it, he asked, "I found that drawing by a previous patient. Do you know him?"

Kaede's eyes took on an edge of warmth when she saw the first picture Inuyasha had drawn, showing that he had been recovering. He had been such a strange and tragic child. "Of course I remember him. He was my patient." Looking up, Kaede saw the interest in Naraku's eyes. "He would actually be around your age right now. When he checked into the hospital, he was in terrible condition. He broke all the mirrors and throughout the time he was here, he refused to have any kids draw him or have our nurses take a picture of him."

Naraku looked out the window again, seeing the clouds float slowly away in the sky. He smiled deviously.

---

"I told you to stop pursuing her, Inuyasha. It'll hurt her!" he hissed, feeling exasperated at the infuriating smirk on his friend's face. "Don't you _ever _listen to me? Not even once in your entire lifetime?"

"I'm not pursuing her, Miroku. I just simply like talking to her," Inuyasha defended, as the two of them walked towards the parking area for his motorcycle. Miroku was getting rather annoying when he always stressed not to hurt Kagome. Why would that man care anyway? She was just a girl.

"Talking? You never just _talk _to a girl, Inuyasha. Your talking means necessary small talk then straight to bed," Miroku said, a frown appearing on his face for the first time in a long while.

Inuyasha seemed to contemplate that thought. "Well, that would be nice."

"Stop."

Inuyasha was really aggravated by Miroku's nagging now as he arrived at his bike. "Stop being such a hypocrite. You have no right to tell me what to do and what not to do when you are the exact same way as I am. If you really want to stop me, you'll have to punch me."

Getting on his bike, he stuffed his helmet over his head and gave his friend a glare from behind the object as he put on his gloves. Giving Miroku a peace sign, he started the engine and was already speeding down the ramp onto the main campus road, leaving behind a quiet Miroku staring after his friend.

Inuyasha raced down the campus road at illegal speeds, the irritating, preaching voice of Miroku repeating inside his head. Who was Miroku to tell him not to hurt Kagome when Miroku had actually supported Inuyasha when he had those one night stands with all those girls before. Why was Miroku being such a hypocrite and a pain in the derriere?

But still, there was that tiny little voice inside of him that asked him _why _he talked to Kagome. She wasn't exactly the type of girl he went for, and she hardly talked that it would have originally driven him crazy. Surprisingly however, he found that although he liked hearing her talk, it didn't frustrate him too much now if she just simply listened to him. He found himself looking for her in the crowd, and he always sat with her at least for a few minutes every lunch.

Of course, perhaps that was just so he could finally get her to sleep with him in the end, but he really wasn't sure. She wasn't gorgeous like some other girls he slept with, so he had a feeling it wasn't for her body. Something in her had touched a part of him that had been unexplored for years, and he wasn't exactly sure what element it was. When he had seen that picture of a mother with her baby boy, he had been attracted to her---not in a romantic way---but in another manner he wasn't sure of.

It was absolutely infuriating how he didn't know his own feelings. He hated that hopelessness of not being able to understand himself.

Speeding up as he found himself driving along the wide and rather deserted street towards his apartment, Inuyasha saw a rather large semi-trailer begin to squeeze its way out of the intersection in front of him. Annoyed that he would have to decrease his speed, he applied pressure to his hand brakes as the long body of the semi-trailer blocked the road in front of him.

Something wasn't right.

Squeezing his handbrakes some more, Inuyasha realized that his speed wasn't decreasing. Sparing a quick glance downwards, he saw that fluid was coming out of a cut on his brake lines. Looking at his speed, it was almost at 100 mph.

"Shit!" he shouted in a muffled voice as he saw himself riding at a high speed towards the side of the obstruction.

Before he knew it, he had hurtled under the semi-trailer.

* * *

A/N: Cliffhanger? So sorry.

Here, I'll answer some questions as repentance for my actions.

**How old are the characters?**

Inuyasha – 21  
Kagome – 20  
Sango – 21  
Miroku – 21

They are all in their third year of college.

**Is Inuyasha a hanyou?**

Yep. So is the other hanyou in the series that you met in this chapter.

**Kagome seems slightly OOC?**

Oh, don't you say?

**Lemon?**

No. I don't write lemons. Just can't possibly. I even struggle with kisses. There might be slight lime, but that'll be later. The rating for this story is language, safety over rating rules, sexual innuendos, and such. It'll probably go up later for a latter scene, but it's still non-lemon. So if you're looking for a lemon, please look somewhere else.


	4. New Troubles

Author's Note: Fourth chapter.

* * *

Dark Hero

Chapter Four

New Troubles

* * *

"Shit!" he shouted in a muffled voice as he saw himself rapidly approaching the side of the obstruction.

Before he knew it, he had slid under the semi-trailer.

Feeling his whole body being dragged towards the ground, he held on tight to his bike as he felt something strike against his helmet before causing the entire object to fly off his head. As his bike skidded to a haphazard stop on the other side of the semi-trailer, he felt himself using his hand to bring his body away from the bike, the flesh burning as the impact tore through the material of his glove.

Before he could even register everything, he realized that he was sprawled along the ground, his bike a few feet away from him. Inuyasha brought up his head to see the semi-trailer complete its turn from the intersection onto the other side of the road, and could faintly heed to his racing heart. Seeing his helmet far away, he realized the smashing sound had most likely been his head meeting one of the wheels, although his speed had ripped him safely away in the last few milliseconds before the wheel crushed his skull. The helmet had not been so lucky and had taken most of the force.

Dragging his body to an upright position, Inuyasha saw that some parts of his glove had been torn off and the exposed flesh was red and bleeding from the skidding. His shoulders also felt slightly strange, but he decided it was nothing to worry about, and would feel better in an hour or so.

Gazing over at his fallen bike, he knew that some parts of his beloved means of transportation had been scratched. The son of a gun who had cut his brake lines had been serious. The person had meant to take his life, and Inuyasha knew that he was lucky to have survived. A second later and his head would have been like an orange in a blender. He winced at the mere thought.

Walking over to his bike, he dragged it to an upright position, and saw that the damage hadn't been too bad. At the speed that he had been going, the side of the vehicle had mostly managed to avoid contact with the ground. He smiled at his luck, before pushing his bike over to where his helmet was, and picked that up as well.

Now the problem was how to get his motorcycle to a repair shop without riding it because of the lack of brakes.

Standing around in the middle of the road, and having been angrily flicked off by some random cars that he had been in the way of, he realized that he would have to resort to slow means. Grumbling some rather colorful words, he heaved the whole bike onto his good shoulder, and began the slow trek towards the direction of the repair shop.

After almost twenty minutes of tiresome walking and occasional leaping throughout the streets, Inuyasha was relieved when he finally saw the shop sign announcing that he had made it. Hanyou he may be, but even he had begun to feel the numbing ache in his shoulder joints. He huffed. Another reason for him to thoroughly maim the person who had sabotaged his bike.

Making his way directly to the garage because he knew that his friend would be located there, he kicked the flimsy door open with a sound boot from his foot, and strolled in as if he was coming home.

The mechanic looked up as he saw the hanyou walk in with a massive scowl on his face and a motorcycle on his shoulders. So he had run into trouble again.

Inuyasha grunted as he took the bike from his shoulders and placed it gently in front of the other man. "Bike thoroughly sabotaged and head almost crushed to a pulp," he provided as his answer, and watched as the mechanic kneeled before the vehicle, inspecting the scratches and dents.

"Someone really did want you to croak," the mechanic commented as he eyed the damage to the bike. He whistled when he saw the brake lines. "What new enemies have you made lately?"

"Too many to begin to count," Inuyasha provided simply as he gazed down at his bike. But whatever enemy it had been, he had tried to ruin the bike Sesshoumaru had given to Inuyasha---the one last memento of the great racer. When he found out who it was, that person was going to pay dearly.

"Well, whoever it had been had cut your front and rear brake lines and usually, at the speed you normally ride at, you would have been road kill if you hadn't reacted fast enough." The mechanic brushed a finger over a scratch in the body of the bike, before sighing. "You should be careful."

"Not many people check their motorcycles or cars before they ride it," Inuyasha retorted.

"And I bet they regret it when they blow up or have a fatal accident," the mechanic replied, as if it was logical that everyone should check their vehicle before getting on. "Anyway, do you still race?"

"My bike is out of service and I haven't seen a decent amount of money in my wallet for a long time. Do you think I race?" Inuyasha scoffed back sarcastically as he reached for a random chair and swung it around to sit on. Gazing at his hand while doing it, he noticed that the injury was already healing.

"Well, it won't take long to fix, but come back tomorrow morning because there are other customers I have to tend to right now. It'll be done by then." the mechanic answered, as he got up to go back to the other bike he had been checking out. Sparing a glance at Inuyasha who was still seated, he questioned purely out of curiosity, "Still fighting with your father?"

He hadn't expected the hanyou to growl dangerously.

"Yes, he's still annoying and constantly nagging me to quit riding motorcycles." Inuyasha snorted. "Fat chance."

"Maybe he's just worried about you. You're his son after all."

Something in Inuyasha's mind began resurfacing, but he pushed it down deeper into the darkness he had stored it, and shook his head. "Or he just wants to destroy my dreams."

"Go home, Inuyasha. Your father cares."

"Go home? I would never go back to that 'home' even if he begged me to. I finally get rid of him, and now he wants me back? I thought he wanted me gone---that's why I moved out. I'd be dumb if I went back there."

The mechanic shook his head. "You can't understand the trouble a father goes through for his son."

"And I would never forsake my dreams, even for him."

---

"Good morning, Anami-sensei!"

The said professor waved to a group of girls as they walked past him, greeting him politely. Taking a gulp of water from his bottle, he sighed happily, as the sun shone down gently upon his face. It was a beautiful Tuesday morning.

"Hello Anami-sensei!"

"Hello," he said back, and smiled at another group of his students, before continuing on his way to his classroom.

"Well, morning, you," someone greeted in an even voice, as Anami-sensei felt the stranger sling an arm around him, pulling him from the direction of his classroom. Twisting his head towards the person, he noticed that it was Inuyasha, who was smiling harmlessly at his teacher.

"Let go of me, Kotoku," he demanded as the hanyou steered him away from the mass of students he had been surrounded with. He felt nervous as the smile on the hanyou's face didn't subside, and instead, he simply tightened his hold on the teacher.

"Not before we have a little talk, Anami."

The gentle yet firm touch of his student was suddenly torn away as Inuyasha whipped him rather powerfully towards a long, steep flight of stairs. The English professor's eyes widened when he saw the distance from where he was being held to the last step of the stairs. The student wasn't really planning to push him down, right?

"You bastard," Inuyasha hissed from behind him, a hand with claws coming up to grip the man's throat. "How dare you."

Anami-sensei gulped audibly, the terror evident in his eyes. "What are you talking about?" he yelped, as he felt the hanyou push him closer to the stairs.

"Don't act innocent. You know what I'm talking about. Because of you, I almost ended up dead. Is that your idea of fun?" Inuyasha snarled, his grip intensifying as Anami-sensei found it hard to breathe.

Inuyasha laughed---mockingly, scornfully. "I like thrilling and dangerous things though. Do you too? If you like playing games with me, it wouldn't be fair if I didn't return the favor." Almost dangling the pitiful human from the first step, Inuyasha decided to swing him back and watched as the professor skidded along the slippery surface of the corridor. His eyes were narrowed, as he asked innocently, "You drive a gray Corolla, right? You should watch your car. You might not know what can happen on the road."

Smirking suggestively, Inuyasha stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets before continuing on his way to class, ignoring the person collapsed on the corridors, his water bottle rolling away slowly. Whistling to a song he had heard on the television last night, Inuyasha strolled to his class as if nothing interesting had transpired that morning.

Stepping into Toutousai's class, he saw that Kagome was already seated at her spot, while other girls were mumbling together and pointing at her every once in a while. Frowning, he walked over to his seat next to her and sat down, bringing his red backpack around and pulling out a bag of chips. Popping it open rather loudly, he took a sniff of the salty food and commented, "This smells delicious. I wonder if someone wants some?"

Kagome turned slightly to look at him, before going back to whatever she had been doing. Taking the first bite of the sliced and fried potatoes, Inuyasha leaned over his seat to see what Kagome was slouched over. Seeing her sketchbook out and the sound of her pencil shading, he whistled. "What are you drawing this time?" he inquired, but she ignored him rather pointedly and covered her sketch even more. "Oh come on, what are you drawing?"

"Nothing," she answered quietly, before slapping her sketchbook shut and cramming it into her backpack. While she was busy bending over to put her materials back, Inuyasha took the opportunity to examine what she was wearing today. He sighed in disappointment. A big sweater that didn't even show one inch of skin, and another skirt that went past her knees. This girl was way too conservative for her age.

"Inuyasha!" someone called out, and Inuyasha mentally hoped it wasn't who he thought it was. However, her scent drifted over to him soon enough, and he found himself wishing he could somehow hide in a closet until she was gone.

Bringing his gaze away from Kagome and to the girl standing next to his desk, he saw that it was Sango with a sly smile on her face. "I heard you broke up with Ami. Care to explain why?" The girl looked much too pleased to really be interested in Ami's feelings.

"We were dating?" he asked, slightly confused.

"I'm serious," Sango said, annoyed that he was trying to joke around with her.

He raised his left eyebrow. "I am too?" he defended.

"Fine, if you don't want to tell me why you broke up with her, I'll ask her myself. But you're single now, right?"

Inuyasha mentally sighed. He honestly hadn't been going out with Ami. The girl just happened to be someone he partook in pleasurable activities with every once in a while. "I've been single for a very long time."

"Whatever," Sango said, waving her hand dismissively as she squeezed between the space of Inuyasha and Miroku's chairs, making Inuyasha intensely aware of the distance between her body and the back of his head.

Deciding to sit down on Miroku's desk because he wasn't in the classroom yet, Sango leaned forward until her lips were near the hanyou's ears. "Want to take me for a ride on your motorcycle sometime?"

Inuyasha looked over at Kagome from the corner of his eyes, seeing her taking out scissors to cut something. It looked sharp. Finally hearing Sango's question in his mind, he answered, "No thanks. My bike doesn't like it when I let girls ride. It also just came back from the repair shop and is extra grouchy. So no, I don't let anyone ride my bike."

Turning towards the quiet girl, Inuyasha began to talk to her, and caused Sango to frown. Seeing Miroku arriving and making his way to his seat, she hopped off his desk and feeling rather irritated at Kagome, bumped into her desk as she walked by, seeing the girl accidentally cut her finger with the scissors. "Oh, sorry, I didn't see you there," she apologized in a monotonous voice, before continuing on her way to her own seat.

Inuyasha wrinkled his nose as the smell of Kagome's blood invaded his senses. Seeing the blood bloom from the small cut, he gently took her hand and examined it. "Is it painful?" he asked, before putting her finger in his mouth to suck the blood.

Kagome's eyes widened at his actions, as well as anyone else in the class who saw Inuyasha's daring feat---including Miroku and Sango. Kagome quickly withdrew her finger from his mouth, and was acutely aware of the wetness, as she swiftly dried it with the material of her skirt. "You shouldn't do that," she whispered.

He shrugged, as if he wasn't in the least embarrassed about having just tasted her blood. "There wasn't a tissue around," he provided as his logical excuse, but could feel something burning into his head.

Turning his head forward, he saw Miroku glaring at him with something akin to slight fury in his eyes. Glancing over at Sango, he also noticed her scowling darkly at Kagome, who had her head down and seemed to slouch over even more than usual.

Whispers were also going around the classroom.

Inuyasha blinked. Had he just done something wrong?

Miroku stalked up next to him, his furious gaze locked onto the golden eyes of his friend. "Inuyasha, we need to talk after this class," he grounded out evenly, before taking his seat behind the hanyou as the bell rang and Toutousai hobbled into the classroom, unaware of what had just occurred a minute before he arrived.

Inuyasha blinked again. Why had the atmosphere of the room just dropped a few degrees?

---

Inuyasha watched as his friend stretched out along the tracks, his eyes narrowed and grim. He himself had crossed his arms across his chest and was gazing at Miroku, waiting for the man to talk to him and explain why he had refused to talk to the hanyou the entire time in Toutousai's class. Usually, the two of them would be sneaking each other food and stuffing it into their faces when the professor wasn't looking, but today, Inuyasha found it lonely trying to sneak in as many potato chips into his mouth as possible by himself.

When Miroku finally talked after ignoring Inuyasha for well over an hour, the hanyou found that he jumped slightly at the ice evident in Miroku's voice. His friend had hardly ever used that tone of voice with him before. "You know that by doing what you're doing to her, you'll force her to end up getting hurt? And not just emotionally."

Inuyasha raised in confusion. "Do you mean this?" He pointed to his mouth, signaling how he had sucked the blood from her fingers. "It's just a habit I've had since I was young. I don't know how that would get her hurt. In contrary, it helps the pain, doesn't it?"

"Well that's a strange habit, and you're a rather dense blockhead." Inuyasha growled at the words from Miroku's mouth. "I really don't get it, Inuyasha. It's not like you're ugly, and it isn't because you don't get any girls…" Miroku trailed off as he stretched out his arms. "Why her?"

"Why her what?" Inuyasha asked, confusion evident in his eyes.

"She's so simple, conservative, and frail. Why choose her over all those other girls you could get?"

"I never 'chose' her, as you so nicely put it. I just like talking to her. Didn't we already have this conversation?"

Miroku frowned as he stretched out his legs. "If anything happens to her, I hope you regret this. I won't get involved."

Inuyasha felt anger growing inside of him, and would have hit Miroku right then if the man didn't happen to be his friend. "Why are you so worried about her? You like her, don't you?" he accused harshly, and saw something flash through the depth of his friend's eyes. "I've suspected it for a while."

"What are you talking about? I don't like her. I don't _like_, Inuyasha," Miroku defended himself, his own serious scowl appearing on his face.

"Neither do I, Miroku. But by the way you keep telling me to back off, you sure seem like you have a thing for Kagome." Inuyasha looked smug as he decided he had reached the point of the argument where he had won against Miroku---for once in his lifetime.

"I don't have a thing for Kagome. I don't like Kagome."

"First, you call her weak. Then you tell me to back off. You _like _her, that's why you're acting so weird."

"Do _you _like her, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. "Are _you _interested in her then, Miroku?"

"I don't like her, Inuyasha. But I am interested in her. Does it matter anyway? What's the difference to someone like you, right? You wouldn't understand," Miroku grounded out through clenched teeth, as he bent down on the track, and took off, running around it as fast as he physically could.

Inuyasha snorted as he watched his friend race around the field. He had to admit that for a human, he was pretty fast. But he was just trying to avoid his problems, and perhaps not for the first time in his life.

Inuyasha smiled derisively. But he wouldn't be a hypocrite like Miroku. He too avoided his problems as much as he could.

Turning around, he walked back towards the school, a hundred thoughts invading his mind and causing him frustration.

---

"Kagome, Kagome, Kagome."

Kagome watched as two of Sango's friend surrounded her on the school's rooftop, having almost dragged the quiet girl up there. Sango was sitting on the edge, gazing rather uncaringly at the exchange, and even bringing a hand up to her mouth to suppress a yawn.

Kagome looked around at the two girls in front of her, both of them smiling sardonically as one of them pushed her on the shoulders. "Why don't you ever talk out loud?" she asked, her eyebrows rising mockingly as their laughs sounded out. "Are you mute?"

Kagome could feel herself cringing away from the touch, something surfacing in her mind which she wanted to repress. She could feel the wind blow her hair around because of their distance on the building, and shuddered slightly through her sweater. She didn't have much time to think however as the other girl pushed her around as well.

"Don't think you're so special just because Inuyasha is paying more attention to you lately. Do you honestly believe he would become serious with someone like you? You're nothing to him. Do you hear me?" the girl asked.

Kagome didn't answer and feeling quite annoyed by the lack of a fight within the girl, she pulled Kagome's hair and was content when she heard a yelp escape from her lips. "I repeat, do you hear me? You are absolutely nothing to Inuyasha."

The other girl pushed her again and demanded, "Why don't you talk, huh? Are you too afraid to talk because we're bullying you?"

"Let go," Kagome muttered, as she shuddered from the touch of the girls, attempting to tug her hair away from their hold. She didn't want them touching her. She didn't want any of them touching her.

"Did you actually _say_ something?" the second girl asked, laughter coming from the two bullies as they tugged her hair harder, earning another pained sound from Kagome.

Sango, who had been watching this with one eye open, hopped from her spot on the ledge and stalked her way over to Kagome, her eyes a frightful magenta. "You're pathetic. You're absolutely pathetic. I hate the way you are---so pitiful and wretched. Always hiding in your corner every day. You like being so pathetic? Then I'll show you just how pathetic you can really be."

With a motion of her head, the three girls were on her, tearing away at her clothing as Kagome screamed, holding her head in her hands and willing them away from her. She hated people touching her! She hated it!

"Stop it! STOP IT!" she shrieked, as they grabbed her shoes and threw it over the building, which soon followed with her sweater.

"Don't **touch** me!" she screamed, tears running down her cheeks as her fingers clawed itself into her skull, hoping that her nightmare would end.

---

Whistling, he took a sip from his can of Pepsi, and yawned as he continued to walk up the stairs to the top of the school. He had ditched class. He honestly didn't feel like going right now---not after what Miroku had said to him and made him think about. To Inuyasha, having interest in someone was when he was attracted to their 'assets,' but Miroku had seemed to make it evident that he wasn't drawn to Kagome because of such materialistic desires. That was a first, really. He had never dreamt of the day Miroku would actually not be interested in someone because of their cup size or their derriere.

And perhaps that was what bothered him the most.

Shaking his head, he took another drink from his Pepsi before kicking the door open to the roof, stepping out into the cool afternoon air. He shouldn't be thinking about Miroku right now because the man would only make the problems in Inuyasha's life more apparent.

Walking over to the ledge, he gazed down at the ground and saw some random students huddled over some objects six-stories below. Feeling slightly sick at looking down so far below, he turned his head away, but only to see something else huddled in a corner.

His golden eyes narrowed as he gazed at the familiar body of the person curled up, sniffling sounds reaching his ear from the distance. Inhaling, he also smelt the familiar scent. "Kagome?" he asked, and saw that she lifted her head at the name, before seeing him and burying her face back in her arms.

"Kagome? What's wrong?" he questioned quietly, and with one gigantic leap, was at her side. That was when he noticed that she lacked her shoes and sweaters and was simply wearing a light shirt and her skirt. "What happened? Did someone do this to you?" A familiar scent assaulted his nose, but he really wasn't sure who it belonged to, and the wind from this far up had blown most of it away.

Miroku's words came to mind.

_You know that by doing what you're doing to her, you'll force her to end up getting hurt? And not just emotionally._

Frowning and feeling rather irritated that Miroku might have been right, Inuyasha took off his red jacket and put it around Kagome, feeling the flinch of her body as he accidentally brushed his fingers over her neck. "It's because of me, isn't it?"

Kagome brought her head up, her eyes red from crying as she shook her head slowly. "No, it's not your fault. It's because I was too timid for some people and they decided to bully me."

"Who was it?"

Kagome hesitated. "I…I don't know," she muttered, as she pulled his jacket around herself tighter.

Inuyasha stared down at her, feeling as if she was lying to him. However, this really wasn't the time for him to grill her on who had done such a horrible thing. "Come on, I'll take you home," he suggested, and reached out a hand for her to hold.

She took it tentatively, and he didn't waste a second as he began to lead her to where his bike was kept.

---

"Sango…I hear a motorcycle."

Sango looked up from studying her fingernails, and her eyebrows pinched together in confusion when she heard the roar of the familiar engine. It was Inuyasha's bike.

Hesitating for only a moment, she bolted out of her seat and ran towards the door, rushing out of it as her professor yelled at her to come back into the room. She ignored his ranting however, and flew over to the center of the corridors where she would be able to see the main campus road of the university.

Grabbing the railings when she got there, her eyes searched frantically for what she dreaded, and indeed it fell upon a powerful silver motorcycle tearing down the road. She only barely managed to stop herself from hitting the railings with her fist when she saw Kagome sitting on the back of the bike, holding tightly onto a figure she would only assume was Inuyasha.

"Damnit!" she yelled, slamming one foot angrily into the ground, as she remembered what he had told her this morning.

_I don't allow anyone to ride my bike. _

* * *

A/N: I know Sango seems like a real evil you-know-what right now, but I promise she'll be better later on. And what's up with Miroku and Kagome? That'll be explained too. And what becomes of Anami-sensei? You'll find out that later as well.


End file.
